Contessa 32, are they really that good?

[doris]

Slow, again? Read posts 27 and 49 and get back to us.

As I have tried to point out, everything is relative. We shall have to agree to differ. Happy Christmas sir.

 

[TernVI]

Slow, again? Read posts 27 and 49 and get back to us.

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Yes slow, and will always be slow for 32ft, whatever sycophantic magazines say.

 

[Tomahawk]

Perhaps so, but ratings are a bagatelle when we have actual times on the water.

I am sure some boats go Round the Island on a jolly but the top of the Contessa class went past, the 50 boat Bavaria fleet, 17 Beneteau Oceanis 37s, and 4 Sigma 38s, amongst many, many others. Some of them must be trying.

Most of these boats have a waterline length longer than the 32's length over all.
My case is a modest one: It would be unfair to call them slow.
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Wow....
A scratch racing crew who know what they are doing beat a load of sunday sailors.

 

[Chae_73]

I have owned most Sigmas and consider David Thomas one of the all time great designers but I wouldn't want one today.

I'm curious as to why you would not want one today; due to age or progress in design, or some other reason?

 

[Yellow Ballad]

I ride a 2020 motor bike, drive a modern car and have full mod cons in my home. Other people see it differently, fine but it's not for me.

Which is fine if you can afford them, I do agree if I had 80k or 250k for a new one I'ld not spend ot on a 70's design 30 footer. I drive a 1996 £200 Peugeot 106 diesel and my motorbike cost me £100 10 years ago.

I've given up driving something nicer to be drive something small slow and noisy to sail a small slow wet boat .

 

[Adios]

Which is fine if you can afford them, I do agree if I had 80k or 250k for a new one I'ld not spend ot on a 70's design 30 footer. I drive a 1996 £200 Peugeot 106 diesel and my motorbike cost me £100 10 years ago.

I've given up driving something nicer to be drive something small slow and noisy to sail a small slow wet boat .

great method IMO. I bet loads of people who needlessly drive a 15K car would look longingly at a 10k yacht sailing past and assume it's something they could only dream about owning.

 

[rotrax]

What a lot of you are forgetting is that, just like in a car or on a motorbike the most important thing is the nut on the steering wheel or handlebars.

With boats, especialy C32's it is the nut on the tiller..........................

 

[newtothis]

great method IMO. I bet loads of people who needlessly drive a 15K car would look longingly at a 10k yacht sailing past and assume it's something they could only dream about owning.

Yeah, but they don't have to pay £3k-plus a year to park their car 100 miles from where they live.

 

[Adios]

Yeah, but they don't have to pay £3k-plus a year to park their car 100 miles from where they live.

could park it for the cost of a sky TV package in many places around the coast and might not live that far at all and still not have a clue how attainable it is. I just meant most people have no idea how much boats cost. I guess they all look expensive from a distance. It seems to surprise people when I've told them anyway so I assume its common.

 

[Yellow Ballad]

Yeah, but they don't have to pay £3k-plus a year to park their car 100 miles from where they live.

£220 a year for me, £100 a year insurance, bumpy brown water included in the price.

 

[Adios]

£220 a year for me, £100 a year insurance, bumpy brown water included in the price.

I reckon @newtothis must be paying extra for less brown in his water. Its never very clear on the east coast but have to say bristol channel looks like oxtail soup so you should get some discount. I remember clearly the first time i rounded Norfolk close to the shore and I could see all of my rudder through the water for the first time and the emerald green seaweed covered bed, I freaked out for a second thinking i must be running aground as you can't see more than foot deep off suffolk. Its a very sudden change as you get near Blakeney.

 

[Blueboatman]

I have owned most Sigmas and consider David Thomas one of the all time great designers but I wouldn't want one today. I've also had a Stephen Jones Whitbread 30 and a J&V Dehler 39SQ. have skippered, delivered and raced a large array of old and modern boats since the 80s ranging from 25feet to 120 feet.
IMHO the C32 is an extremely slow and wet relic that wasn't even that well built.. The Sadler 32 was much better but still vv slow and wet. Yes I have sailed both and would rather not go back.
I ride a 2020 motor bike, drive a modern car and have full mod cons in my home. Other people see it differently, fine but it's not for me.

Wow?
Glad I asked?
I thought you would have some really valid input experience iirc you have lots of short handed racing , so thank you .

I simply love Thomas and Jones’s talents in design. Again and again.

I can critique every boat I have owned or sailed on, of course, but I am delighted to see so many Co32s coveted and actually used , for such a variety of sailing activities from training schools and Army to derring do to knocking about the western approaches, ...
Vive la difference and here’s to even MORE , and varied enthusiasms afloat ?

 

[Bobc]

Yes slow, and will always be slow for 32ft, whatever sycophantic magazines say.

Indeed. You also have to bear in min though, that whereas a modern 32fter has a 32ft waterline, the CO32 only has a 24ft waterline. So it's hardly comparing apples with apples is it? Even if you try to compare it with something like a modern 25fter, you won't get a fair comparrison, because the CO32 is longer in its sail plan and is heavier, especially at the ends with all that overhang.

If you want to find a modern "equivilent", then maybe something like the First 25.7, which will sail rings around a CO32 all day long. Personally, I would have the First, every day of the week.

 

[JumbleDuck]

great method IMO. I bet loads of people who needlessly drive a 15K car would look longingly at a 10k yacht sailing past and assume it's something they could only dream about owning.

Perceptions can be funny. People used to assume that gliding was expensive, but actually it costs about as much as golf. Not cheap, but not ruinous either.

 

[Praxinoscope]

M'y previous boat was a long keeler (Invicta 26) similar lines to the CO32, a bit slow in light winds but anything above a mid force 3 and she really started to move, my present boat is a twin bilge (Sadler 25) great little boat to sail but very different to the Invicta. I sailed in a few CO32's years ago and still love them, if I could afford to buy and maintain one and my mooring was suitable I would still consider one, but I think after the totally opposing views in this thread on them I would have to rename it 'Marmite' as they do seem to be a love or hate item.

 

[pvb]

I hadn't had a boat more recent than 1970s made till then so was used to maybe over engineered. But it surprised me. I mean I know its GLASS fibre but even still it surprised me to see the reflections on the water ripples showing through the hull like it was a piece of tracing paper.

Quite normal, depending on the internal finish. I could see daylight through the hull of my 1990 Hallberg-Rassy...

 

[dom]

I hadn't had a boat more recent than 1970s made till then so was used to maybe over engineered. But it surprised me. I mean I know its GLASS fibre but even still it surprised me to see the reflections on the water ripples showing through the hull like it was a piece of tracing paper.

Or perhaps 5" bullet proof glass like "The Beast", the US President's car?

 

[doug748]

M'y previous boat was a long keeler (Invicta 26) similar lines to the CO32, a bit slow in light winds but anything above a mid force 3 and she really started to move, my present boat is a twin bilge (Sadler 25) great little boat to sail but very different to the Invicta. I sailed in a few CO32's years ago and still love them, if I could afford to buy and maintain one and my mooring was suitable I would still consider one, but I think after the totally opposing views in this thread on them I would have to rename it 'Marmite' as they do seem to be a love or hate item.

My theory (hope) is they hate the acclaim rather than the boat.

We have established that only racing types, owners of J109s and the like, could call them slow. The size of the accommodation is obvious, water on deck is only an inconvenience if you like to go forward to change foresails.

As a special festive treat I will tell the moaners what really stinks about the Contessa 32:

1) The standard water tank is a joke 12 gallons ish.
2) The "cool" box is situated right next to the engine and you could bake bread in it.
3) It is appalling under engine, both noisy and inefficient.
4) The prop is very near the surface and excellent at picking up any floating weed.

I won't list the positives here, for fear of winding people up.


Heigh-Ho. It's the 50th anniversary next year so there may be a lot more angst to come. ;- )


.

 

[awol]

My theory is they hate the acclaim rather than the boat.

We have established that only racing types, owners of J109s and the like, could call them slow. The size of the accommodation is obvious, water on deck is only an inconvenience if you like to go forward to change foresails.

As a special festive treat I will tell the moaners what really stinks about the Contessa 32:

1) The standard water tank is a joke 12 gallons ish.
2) The "cool" box is situated right next to the engine and you could bake bread in it.
3) It is appalling under engine, both noisy and inefficient.
4) The prop is very near the surface and excellent at picking up any floating weed.

I won't list the positives here, for fear of winding people up.


Heigh-Ho. It's the 50th anniversary next year so there may be a lot more angst to come. ;- )


.

"Acclaim"? Possibly, but I think it is discombobulating for people with bigger (inside and out), faster, more modern, all mod con boats to understand that CO32 owners are not covetous of their pride and joys and some may even pity them.
1. Cannot disagree - I carry an extra 50 litres and still have not persuaded the women in my life that salt water is ok for most things, except tea, coffee and whisky, and is absolutely fine for brushing teeth.
2. My "cool" box is forward of the cooker and is actually quite cool
3. Now with 3 cyl 20hp and Darglow it goes forward and sometimes backwards
4. Yes, but it can be reached from a dinghy to clear it easily.
..... and don't forget
5. Heads and fo'c'sle in intimate proximity
6. Working in the galley is a continuous moving of things to access other things

 

[mrming]

A Contessa 32 is a lovely looking boat. I wouldn’t want to own one but I like looking at other people’s. It would be a boring world if all yachts were the same. Time moves on, but classic yachts are nice to have around. A true sailor can appreciate a wide variety of craft of all vintages. ?